Box score

Sophomore Kaela Barker scored two goals and added an assist as the Northeastern Huskies blanked the Towson Tigers 3-0 Friday afternoon at Sweeney Field. Redshirt freshman Lizzie Priest stopped all four Towson shots on goal for her first shutout of the season.

The Huskies, winners of four straight games, earned their eighth win in 12 games this season, topping  the seven wins the team accumulated all last season.

Freshman Crystal Poland put the Huskies on the board at the 6:20 mark of the first half with her eleventh goal of the year. Off a penalty corner, sophomore Carolyn Malloy inserted the ball to the top of the arc to junior Anne-Rieke Stuhlmann for the stick-stop. Barker then faked a shot and slipped a pass to her left to a rushing Poland, who fired it into the Towson cage for a 1-0 lead.

Barker nearly doubled the advantage off another corner 15 minutes later, but her shot clanged off the left upright and skipped out of danger.

The Husky defense held Towson without a shot on goal for nearly the first half hour of the game, before junior Blythe Mackie tested Priest with a low drive off her right pad.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, the Huskies padded their lead. Barker launched a backhand lazer from 14 yards out that fooled Towson keeper Jaime Dowling, giving NU an all-important insurance tally.

Dowling did well to keep her team's deficit at two when she denied Poland and then Barker off a penalty corner in the 56th minute.

With the Huskies bearing down on the Towson net in the game's final stages, Barker added another goal to put the game out of reach. Freshman Nicola Graham did much of the work on the play as she dribbled down the right wing, before having the ball poked away by a defender and on to the stick of Barker. Her blast from 12 yards out squeezed between the wickets of Dowling for her fourth goal of the season.

Northeastern outshot Towson by a 21-6 margin and improved to 6-0 on the season when Barker records at least a point.

The Huskies return to action on Sunday vs. No. 17 Delaware at Sweeney Field at 2 p.m.